UAE suspends fourth cricketer for corruption

Ashfaq Ahmed on Monday became the fourth United Arab Emirates cricketer suspended as part of an anti-corruption investigation.

Ahmed opened the batting in their first two matches at the T20 World Cup qualifying tournament. He scored four as UAE lost to Oman on Friday and three as they beat Ireland on Saturday.

He was not in the team on Monday as UAE beat Hong Kong by eight wickets.

“Further to the ongoing investigations led by the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit, Emirates Cricket Board has today provisionally suspended Ashfaq Ahmed with immediate effect,” the UAE Cricket Board said in a statement.

They added that “no formal charges have been laid against the player and the Board will wait for the conclusion of proceedings before making any further comment.”

Last Wednesday, captain Mohammed Naveed, batsman Shaiman Anwar and right-arm pace bowler Qadeer Ahmed were charged with corruption by the International Cricket Council.

The three players face a total of 12 counts of breaching the governing body’s anti-corruption rules.

A fourth individual, Mehardeep Chhayakar, was charged for refusing to cooperate with the ICC.

Ahmed, a 34-year-old who was born in Lahore, has played 12 T20 matches and 16 one-day internationals for UAE. He averages 21.50 in ODIs and 19.83 in the shorter format. An occasional spin bowler, he has taken six international wickets.

Two of the players charged on October 16 are suspected of trying to fix results at the ongoing tournament in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Naveed, a 32-year-old fast bowler who has played 39 ODIs and 31 T20s, was charged on four counts revolving around match-fixing at the T20 qualifiers, which began on Friday, and the T10 League which takes place in Abu Dhabi in November.

Shaiman faces two charges connected with fixing results in the tournament.

Qadeer was charged with six breaches of the ICC’s Code relating principally to the series against Zimbabwe in April and the Netherlands in August as well as passing insider information to Chhayakar in the knowledge that “the information might be used for betting purposes”.